


Chocolate Chips

by Desert Dragonfly (bookbeachbunny)



Category: The Walking Dead
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-14
Updated: 2017-12-14
Packaged: 2019-02-14 21:29:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13016508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookbeachbunny/pseuds/Desert%20Dragonfly
Summary: The very first time Daryl and Carol meet they didn't even realize it. She even gave him cookies.





	Chocolate Chips

Carol was hot and exhausted by the time she found a little stream she could sit down next to. The place wasn’t much- just a wooded area off the side of the road where her family had stopped at the diner to eat. But at least it was quiet and she needed the quiet.  
A whole week camping with her family.  
A week!  
“I will be good for you kid!” her father had promised with a slap on the back. Of course by the end of the week he had been looking like he’d rather be anywhere else. Carol found a rock and stretched. She hadn’t slept at all this week. There was something on her leg that looked like a bite. Probably some slow acting poison. Either way she was tired of her mother telling her that she was fine while also yelling at her not to scratch it.  
Yep, a week had been as much as she could take by the time they had stopped at the dinner.   
Her sisters were already arguing.  
Carol had grabbed a last bag of cookies and taken off into the woods, “I’ll be fine!”  
She tore the bag of chocolate chips and enjoyed a couple of yellow and blue butterflies fluttering around by the water.  
She took a deep breath.  
The air wasn’t exactly as pristine as the campsite but at least it was silent and she could enjoy that.  
Almost immediately that silence was broken by birds from the trees on the other side of the stream. They took off suddenly and with a shot making a hell of a lot of noise.  
“Get back here you little bastard!”  
The strong angry voice echoed in such a way that it seemed to come from everywhere. Carol’s heart sank. She didn’t want to know where it was coming from. “You think it’s bad now?”  
She very much wished she had stayed with her family.   
“I catch you I break every fucking bone in your useless body!”  
She didn’t wait. The voice sounded like it was moving away but she still threw herself down behind a much bigger rock. It wasn’t like she couldn’t be found. Carol made herself small. Told herself to stay calm.  
“You hear?”  
The voice was more distance now. Only the birds seemed to answer him. She waited and wasn’t sure how much time passed. Angry man seemed to have gone. The butterflies returned. Shouldn’t her parents be looking for her already?  
Course not.  
They were probably tired of kids to.  
She’d have to go to them. She sucked in some air and planned to make a run for it when she heard a shuffle from the other side of the stream from the trees the voice had originally came from and found herself ducking further into the dirt. Ew. Carol looked back up just in time to see a boy- not much younger than her stumble and limp out toward the water.  
His head was down and sandy blonde hair- matted with dirt- covered his face. He moved slowly and kept glancing behind him but he hadn’t noticed her as of yet. They were at an odd angle to one another.  
When he knelt toward the water she could have sworn she saw him grimace. He moved with the hesitation of a frightened animal. A wounded animal. Her heart automatically went out to him.  
It felt wrong to watch him cup water into his hands and drink like he was desperate. She considered getting up but he’d definitely see her then and realize that she had been watching him.  
Which she had.  
Probably wouldn’t like that.  
Was his head bleeding to?  
Then she felt something on her hand and looked down to notice a spider crawling up her hand toward her…  
“Ah!”  
Despite jumping up Carol managed to shake the creature off on the rock where it scattered away alive and then she found herself staring face to face with the angry looking boy.  
“Hello, uh. Hi…”  
She took a step forward and he took about four back. Was he that afraid of her? Her heart broke for him again.  
“I wasn’t spying I was just. Well, I heard someone shouting…”  
Stupid.  
He tensed up immediately.  
Listening to him being threatened was probably no better than her telling him she was watching him clean.  
“Sorry. I’m gonna head back to my family. Sorry for disturbing you.” She started to stumble off trying not to be flustered but then doubled back, “You want these cookies?”  
A doubtful look crossed his face.  
“I just had lunch so, you know. They’re chocolate chip!”  
She knew he was thinking about it. Then to her surprise he took a couple of steps and swiped them out of her hand with such an intense dislike in his eyes that it would take her years and one abusive husband to understand. He had been angry. But not with her. Also hurt and embarrassed that she had witnessed everything- or at least heard it. Right then though all she could do was turn and race back to her family.  
She didn’t look back and he wouldn’t think on it again save the cookies really were a Godsend for him. He’d shoplift the same ones from stores and gas stations across the South in the future. Neither one of them would ever have imagined they’d survive so much together and Carol would be giving him cookies again- sometime after the end of the world.


End file.
